The Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, in which 67 people were killed in an attack by al-Shabab militants, has reopened.
Gunmen entered the mall in September 2013 and fired on shoppers, leading to a siege over four days.
About half the shops are opening again after an extensive refurbishment.
The
reopening comes a week before US President Barack Obama visits Nairobi -
a sign, the city's governor said, that the capital was safe.
"Exactly 22 months ago we had one of the saddest days in Kenyan history," governor Evans Kidero said.
"As a nation we cried, we mourned, but Westgate is back."
Somali Islamist group al-Shabab said it carried out the attack in response to Kenya's military operations in Somalia.
CCTV
footage showing terrified shoppers fleeing the gunmen and cowering
behind counters. Many were shot as the attackers walked down the aisles
of a supermarket.
All four gunmen are believed to have died during the assault.
Parts
of the mall were badly damaged by fire and remained off-limits as
journalists toured the building earlier in the week. It is not clear if
those sections are reopening.
Much is still not known about what happened during the siege
'Many unanswered questions' - Karen Allen, BBC News East Africa correspondent
It was one of the boldest attempts by the armed militants to target foreign nationals as well as Kenyans.
A
promised inquiry never happened and a parliamentary committee
criticised what it called the laxity and unresponsiveness of security
services.
Some uniformed officers were captured on CCTV footage looting shops as the siege dragged on.
And
although there are still many unanswered questions about the exact
identities of the attackers, and how they were able to smuggle weapons
in, the complex management says security has been dramatically improved. Since the Westgate siege, al-Shabab has launched a number of high-profile attacks, including one on a university in Garissa, north-east Kenya, in which close to 150 people died in April.
Our correspondent says al-Shabab is increasingly recruiting within Kenya.
Earlier this week, the US State Department issued a travel warning to its citizens that extremists could target a summit in Nairobi in late July, which will be attended by Mr Obama.
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Four men accused of helping al Qaeda-linked militants launch
a deadly attack on a Nairobi shopping mall last year have said they
were tortured in prison and a state-funded rights body is investigating,
a lawyer for two of them said on Monday. The four had been due to attend
court last week but did not appear. A prison officer said the men could
not appear because they were undergoing "bed rest", but he gave no
details.
Gunmen linked to the
Somali Islamist group al Shabaab attacked Westgate mall in September
last year, a raid that left at least 67 people dead. Four men were
believed to have carried out the raid but officials said they all died
inside.
The four men on trial are accused of helping those gunmen in a range of ways. They all deny the charges.
"There
was an incident at Kamiti maximum prison on Aug. 27 in which the
authority unleashed severe torture and assault on the inmates," lawyer
Chacha Mwita, representing two of the accused, told the court.
"The
commission that promotes and protects human rights commenced its
investigation last week on Friday and recorded statements from inmates
and prison warders," he said.
There
was no immediate formal comment from the Kenya National Commission on
Human Rights (KNCHR), but one official who declined to be named said a
probe had been carried out.
"We did our own investigations but the report is not yet ready," the commission official told Reuters by telephone.
The
officer in charge of Kamiti's maximum prison where the four have been
held, Henry Kisungu, told the court the authorities did not bring the
men to court "as they are under bed rest within prison".
The
court officials and lawyers will visit the prison on Wednesday to make
their own observations related to the allegations of torture.
The trial of the four began in January and several witnesses have already been heard.
The
security forces and officials faced public criticism for their handling
of the Westgate operation in which the gunmen laid siege to the mall
for four days. The army admitted two soldiers looted some property while
the siege was going on.
Al Shabaab said it launched the attack on the mall in retaliation for Kenya's deployment of troops in Somalia.
